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6/18/2007 08:58:00 AM

AL East: Baltimore Chop

By Alex Belth

From the mid-1960s through the mid-1980s, the Baltimore Orioles were the model organization in baseball. Baltimore built their teams around the concepts of great pitching, stellar fielding and the three-run home run and won championships in 1966, 1970 and 1983. In fact, the O's had the best record of any team during the '60s and the '70s.

Earl Weaver, who steadily worked his way through the minor leagues, managed the team for most of this run, and is a Hall-of-Famer. The Orioles developed talents such as Boog Powell, Brooks Robinson, Paul Blair, Mark Belanger, Jim Palmer, and, later, Bobby Grich, Don Baylor and Eddie Murray. They played baseball the right way, the "Oriole Way," and thrived in spite of the fact that other teams spent more once the free agency era began.

The Orioles' system began to corrode during the Cal Ripken years. By the mid-90s, they had become another version of The Best Team Money Can Buy, featuring stars like Roberto Alomar, Rafael Palmeiro and Bobby Bonilla. They were competitive for a few seasons and then collapsed -- the Orioles have finished as high as third in the American League East just once since 1997.

I grew up in the '70s and '80s and always counted on the Orioles being a force, much like the Atlanta Braves have been for the better part of the past 20 years in the National League. It wasn't that I necessarily liked them, but they were dependable, respectable. But the old Orioles are long-gone, and that is one of the running disappointments in the game. Now, each season presents yet another mediocrity.

The O's have lost eight straight games, more than a third of the way to the 21 consecutive games they lost in 1988. Sam Perlozzo reportedly is being fired today, but the organization's troubles run deeper than its manager. For the moment, Kevin Millar called a players-only team meeting to try and unite the club.

According to Roch Kubatko in the Baltimore Sun:

Always a favorite of the media for his accessibility and one-liners, Millar vented when he noticed a few reporters joking around while players ate dinner in silence and dressed at their lockers.

"Next time you guys come in here after a team's lost, let's try not to have a party. Have respect for the guys who have battled out there for three hours. Just a common courtesy," said Millar, who also was fuming after striking out as a pinch-hitter in the ninth with two runners in scoring position.

"I know this isn't a big media market, but common courtesy when a team's struggled this long. Chill out a little bit. Show respect for the other players."


The fun and games continue this week for the Orioles on the West Coast. They have today off, then face Jake Peavy on Tuesday night in San Diego.



  • It was just a matter of time before Toronto's A.J. Burnett landed back on the DL, but he's headed there again, this time with a sore shoulder.


  • Frank Thomas set the record for most home runs by a DH.


  • With B.J. Upton on the disabled list, Johnny Gomes is taking at-bats away from the talented, but troubled Elijah Dukes.


  • The Yankees are making due with Miguel Cairo and Josh Phelps at first base but it's likely that they will trade for another first baseman before all is said and done. The Bombers talked about signing Shea Hillenbrand in the off-season and George King reports they are considering a deal of him again. Too bad they didn't hang onto Carlos Peña, who is tearing it up for the D-Rays, to the tune of .317/.409/.683.


  • New York continues to play well -- they dropped just one game all week. Chien-Ming Wang is pitching very well, and he shut-down the Mets last night, striking out a career-high ten hitters. Jorge Posada and Derek Jeter are having All-Star seasons and Alex Rodriguez is pounding the ball again. He's got 27 home runs and 73 RBI in 67 games. He could be the game's first $30 million player writes Joel Sherman.


  • The Red Sox still have a sizable 8.5-game lead in the East after sweeping the Giants at Fenway Park this weekend. Daisuke Matsuzaka, who has been slumping quietly, pitched a gem on Saturday afternoon.


  • Finally, on a sad note, Larry Whiteside, the first black reporter to cover the Red Sox, passed away after battling with a lengthy illness. Whiteside came to Boston in 1973 after ten years in Milwaukee, at a time when the press box was even whiter than the ballfield.

    "Larry was that bridge for us," said [assistant managing editor/sports for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Garry D] Howard. "He was the bridge for this generation. He helped father this whole generation. I think you could trace it back to Larry and then to a Sam Lacy.

    "When you say pioneer, you have to put that next to his name, not just as a writer, but as a mentor to a whole generation of African-American sports journalists that turned out to be pretty good and that he was very proud of."


    Dan Shaughnessy remembers his colleague. For more on Whiteside's story, pick up Howard Bryant's compelling book about racism and Boston sports Shut Out.

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    posted by SI.com | View comments |  

    Comments:

    Post a Comment
    Posted: June 18, 2007 12:51 PM   by Anonymous
    Hey Alex, if you want those of us West Coasters to quit complaining about East Coast bias, it might help if you could get the spelling of arguably the NL's best pitcher this season correct. It's not Peavey, it's Peavy. Might be nice if you paid attention to San Diego baseball once in awhile.
    Posted: June 18, 2007 10:02 PM   by Anonymous
    To the above - why, if nobody else does?
    Post a Comment
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